The O-Line Spot Will be Ultra Competitive for the Jags This Summer

With the disaster that it was last season, O-line will be an interesting position to watch this year for the Jags, and Fox’s Inside Slant takes a look at the position for Jacksonville and how it may play out:

While the Tra Thomas-Eugene Monroe battle for the starting left tackle job will gather much attention during the Jaguars’ training camp, another veteran vs. rookie battle is likely to ensue at the other end of the line.

Tony Pashos has been the starter at right tackle for every game the last two years except for the season finale in 2007 when coach Jack Del Rio rested all of the starters so as not to lose anyone for the following week’s playoff game in Pittsburgh. Pashos enjoyed a solid season that year and while his play may not have been up to that level in 2008, many thought it was good enough for him to retain his starting spot.

But the Jaguars may have sent out another message when they made Eben Britton their second-round pick in April. Many thought that Britton would be gone before then. The former Arizona standout had been projected by several draft authorities as a late first-round choice. When he fell into the second round the Jaguars made him the 39th overall pick.

Britton gained immediate notoriety when in his first conference call with local media, he harped on his displeasure of being selected in the second round and that he would show all 31 other teams of the mistake that they made by not taking the guy who “… will be the best lineman ever to play in the NFL.”